Japanese to English Set Map
Every Japanese expansion matched to the English set that carried its cards, from the 1996 Expansion Pack to the Mega Evolution era. Japan releases smaller sets more often, so two Japanese boosters frequently become one English set — every one of those merges is marked below, along with the sets Japan kept to itself.
Switch the toggle to read the map in either direction: from a Japanese set to its English release, or from an English set back to the Japanese boosters it was built from.
The badge between the two columns says how the sets relate — a straight adaptation, one of several sets merged together, or a set split across two English releases.
Set names link through to the full guide and card list wherever Bill’s Archive has one.
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How to read this map
Direct means the English set is a close adaptation of that single Japanese set. Merged means the Japanese set is one of several combined into one English release — the norm from the Black & White era onward, where Japan splits a release into two themed boosters and the English version puts them back together. Split means the reverse: one Japanese set spread across two English sets. Partial means only some of the set’s cards reached the English release named.
English sets are not simply translations. They are renumbered, and they routinely add cards from Japanese decks, promos and starter products that are not part of the booster named here. A card that appears in an English set therefore will not always be found in the Japanese set listed opposite it.
The English release order does not always follow the Japanese order. In the EX era, for example, Clash of the Blue Sky came out in Japan before Team Rocket’s Strikes Back, but its English counterpart, EX Deoxys, arrived after EX Team Rocket Returns.
A handful of English sets have no single Japanese source booster and are listed on their own in the EN → JP view: Base Set 2, Legendary Collection, Southern Islands, Call of Legends, Generations and Champion’s Path.
Looking for release dates instead? The TCG calendar tracks English, Japanese and Simplified Chinese releases side by side. To identify a card’s set from the card itself, use the set symbol chart.
Set logos and card designs are © The Pokémon Company, shown here for identification. This map is hand-checked and updated as new expansions are announced.